Does anyone else get the feeling that if any US politician said this, they would be heavily criticized?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/eu_france_sarkozy_burqa

Sarkozy says burqas are 'not welcome' in France

PARIS – President Nicolas Sarkozy said the Muslim burqa would not be welcome in France, calling the full-body religious gown a sign of the "debasement" of women.

In the first presidential address to parliament in 136 years, Sarkozy faced critics who fear the burqa issue could stigmatize France's Muslims and said he supported banning the garment from being worn in public.

"In our country, we cannot accept that women be prisoners behind a screen, cut off from all social life, deprived of all identity," Sarkozy said to extended applause at the Chateau of Versailles, southwest of Paris.

"The burqa is not a religious sign, it's a sign of subservience, a sign of debasement — I want to say it solemnly," he said. "It will not be welcome on the territory of the French Republic."

Dozens of legislators have called for creating a commission to study a possible ban in France, where there is a small but growing trend of wearing the full-body garment despite a 2004 law forbidding it from being worn in public schools.

France has Western Europe's largest Muslim population, an estimated 5 million people, and the 2004 law sparked fierce debate both at home and abroad.

Even the French government has been divided over the issue, with Immigration Minister Eric Besson saying a full ban would only "create tensions," while junior minister for human rights Rama Yade said she was open to a ban if it was aimed at protecting women forced to wear the burqa.

The terms "burqa" and "niqab" often are used interchangeably in France. The former refers to a full-body covering worn largely in Afghanistan with only a mesh screen over the eyes, whereas the latter is a full-body veil, often in black, with slits for the eyes.

A leading French Muslim group, the French Council for the Muslim Religion, has warned against studying the burqa, saying it would "stigmatize" Muslims.

Sarkozy was due to host a state dinner Monday with Sheik Hamad Bin Jassem Al Thani of Qatar, where women wear Islamic head coverings in public — whether while shopping or driving cars.

I think his statement is a "debasement" to everyone in France.

Lock 'er up

We need Ced to post before that happens.

Yeah I'd like to hear Ced's thoughts at the very least.

Seriously, I'm anticipating a retraction of sorts on this statement PDQ.

Hasn't France already successfully banned religious symbols such as head scarves in schools and universities? I don't see why this wouldn't pass legal muster if those initiatives did.

They have? Jesus, that's fucking horrible.

France hasn't just banned Islamic headscarves, they've banned any outward religious symbol. A key distinction though is that it is for public places only. This seems to be a total ban.

It's amazing when you talk with French people and how ardently they support these programs.

How does a ban on religious symbols work? I can't wear a cross pendant to the market?

Also, what constitutes a "religious symbol"?

If women choose this, that's their choice. This quote is so ironic considering Sarkozy wants to ban the free choice a woman has to wear a burqa.

this is fuckin ridiculous

And this my friends is why prostitution should be legal as well.

i don't think i've found a thing i disagree with in this topic so far, aside from sarkozy himself.

Well, that and it's a victimless "crime".

I wasn't being sarcastic. Forcing people to do a certain thing in order to make them "more free" is laughable. Women can't freely choose to wear burquas because it means they are less free. Women can't freely choose to offer a service for money because it is exploits the woman who freely made that choice.

I agree, sir.

Very well then.

it's only banned in schools, not all public places.
that's because of public school's laicity (separation of church and state actually mean something in France, big part of the French revolution was about that).
not the same thing as banning it in the street (can't see how that could be constitutional anyway).

Can't say that I'm comfortable when I see women wearing those garments.. both as a woman and an atheist... how many of those women really CHOSE it, not forced, not pressured, able to revert even to just a scarf anytime they want?
not saying a ban is the solution (it antagonise more than anything else), education is.


it's a male fantasy to think that women freely chose to go into prostitution
same reasoning that saying rape victims were 'looking for it'..

i'm sure a good number. wanting to fit in to a society doesn't mean you lose all choice. you choose to fit in. it's like slutty girls claiming they had to do this or that to fit in. you didn't have to fit in to that specific group in the first place. you're not entitled to a fucking group. and i'm not talking about rape or all prostitution.